COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

CHAPTER FOUR TYPHOON
his element, splendidly informal - full of deliberate mispronunciations
and good humour.
"We've got that bastard Hitler and his Narzees on the run..... one
more good heave should shee them orf for ever."
He spoke from the heart, with a marvellous feel for his audience,
as if rolling back the years to take part in the battle himself. Inspiring
and deeply moving. When the time came for him to leave, and Denys
Gillam called three cheers for the Prime Minister, we cheered him to
the echo.
With the return of flying weather the Americans broke out
southwards from the Cherbourg peninsular. As they went over to the
attack the left flank of the advance swung east in a giant hook to take
the Germans in the rear. To Tommy's dedicated map watchers it was
frustrating that the British and Canadians were making so little
progress against the enemy divisions massed against them in the Caen
sector.
A few days later the map showed an astounding change, with a
massive German thrust aimed towards Avranches. Most of Panzer
Group West was being thrown into an all out drive, to cut off the
advancing 3rd US Army from its bases in the north. Amongst them
were those same crack German divisions which had been holding the
line around Caen. Admire them we might and yet one of our worst
fears was that of being taken prisoner by an SS unit. Bad enough, as
a ground attack pilot, to be captured by front line troops, but to fall
into the hands of the SS, with their reputation for unbridled brutality,
would be a thousand times worse.
It happened to Killy in the closing stages of the battle for Mortain,
when the Typhoon squadrons were locked in combat with the panzer
spearheads, and through sheer guts and that deceptively carefree Irish
manner he turned it to good account.
Hit by flak near Vire he forced landed half a mile behind the
German lines and managed to evade the enemy foot patrols by hiding
under a tank for almost four hours. From this exceedingly dangerous
position, with the crew moving around a few inches above his head,
it was perhaps fortunate for him that he was seen by a German officer,
and forced to surrender!
Despatched to Luftwaffe HQ, with an escort of two riflemen,
travel was only possible at night and the overcrowded roads made
progress very slow. For nearly a week he was on the move - collecting
a number of American POWs in the process. On the sixth day, close to
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